Earlier this afternoon, magnetic fields on the Sun's northeastern limb exploded in an arcing jet of roiling plasma, producing what is hands down one of the most spectacular solar explosions we've seen in years.

Featured here are two videos of the blast, captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory when the explosion occurred around 17:45 UT (12:45 EST).

On Tuesday night, the surface of the Sun erupted in an violent solar flare, blasting a massive wave …
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The flare wasn't pointing towards Earth when it erupted, which means we don't have to worry about any radiations storms screwing with our satellites, plane flights or radio communications — at least not yet. Spaceweather.com is reporting that "this event confirms suspicions that an active region of significance is rotating onto the Earth-facing side of the sun," which means an Earth-directed flare could be imminent.